The mysterious Rev. Guards officer has been secretly appointed commander of the Syrian war. His hidden record covers a long career of external operations in terrorist training, orchestration and execution on behalf of the Islamic regime.

Israeli-Hizballah tensions were heightened further this week by the deadly car bomb attack near Hizballah’s Baalbek base Tuesday, two days after a Lebanese solder murdered Israeli Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen Monday. debkafile: Both apparently interconnected incidents occurred after Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah paid a secret visit to Tehran last week. Hizballah and Iran are actively considering reprisals against the intelligence bodies terrorizing Hizballah operatives and command posts as well as Iranian targets - clearly armed with precise information about their movements and whereabouts.

Nasrallah secretly visited to Tehran to discuss plans for avenging the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut of which they accuse the Saudi intelligence chief. Iran and Hizballah are bent on revenge.

Tehran wins two key Gulf emirates away from their close alignment with Saudi Arabia by two steps: Its consent to discuss the future of three islands claimed by the UAE in the Strait of Hormuz; and the conspicuous absence of Oman’s Sultan Qaboos from the GCC summit in Kuwait this week. The Saudis were prevented from passing anti-Iranian measures, which must be unanimous under GCC rules, and were therefore isolated. The Obama administration’s silence – even when Iran posted assault aircraft on a Hormuz island – resounded across the region.

Behind the ballyhoo of the Geneva nuclear accord, Washington and Tehran have begun sharing out their areas of influence in post-war Syria in tacit concurrence. They have the same two goals: Blocking al Qaeda’s advance in Syria and keeping Bashar Assad in power. The details of this under-the-counter arrangement between Washington and Tehran are revealed in the latest issue of DEBKA Weekly out Friday, Dec. 6.

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif bitterly complained Wednesday, Dec. 4, that his country’s media preferred to quote debkafile instead of himself. “Who tells the truth? I, the foreign minister of Iran? Or the Zionist website DEBKA which runs falsehoods?” It was the second time that Zarif vented his frustration with DEBKA’s popularity in Iran. Tuesday, he accused the non-official media of drawing heavily on foreign sources, such as “the Fact Sheet put out by the White House in Washington and the Israeli debkafile” while neglecting official statements.

A Saudi warning reached Western intelligence agencies, including Israel, on Nov. 14, that Iran and Hizballah were plotting a major terrorist operation in Beirut as a diversionary stunt, debkafile reports exclusively. The tip-off came three days before twin suicide bombings struck the Iranian embassy and the Hizballah stronghold in Beirut Tuesday, Nov. 19, killing 25 people and injuring nearly 150. It was devised, said Saudi intelligence, to convince Hizballah fighters consigned against their will to the Syrian battlefield that they were fighting to defend their own home bases.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan has a war chest of $500 million for clandestine operations in Iran, including assassinations and fomenting violent unrest among its national minorities in four corners of the country.

Turkish-Iranian intelligence cooperation has produced an operation against Syria rebel supplies through Turkey. Tehran wants to redirect Turkish exports from its Israeli route back to Syria, and use the Turkish route to promote Iranian products in Europe.

As Al Qods rounds up a Shiite legion across the Middle East to fight for Damascus, Hizballah is deeply reluctant to stay in the Syrian war arena any longer. The Saudis are pushing for a government in Beirut that will pull Hizballah out of Syria.

Early last year, the Erdogan government blew the cover of up to 10 Israel agents in Iran. This story was published in The Washington Post, Thursday, Oct. 17 – the day after the Geneva conference on Iran’s nuclear program was hailed by Western powers led by the US as “substantive” and “forward-looking.” debkafile: The WP story was a broad hint to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that his refusal to get behind the New Middle East, and accept Barack Obama’s take on Iran’s position, would expose Israel to more intelligence debacles.